All quick hitters tonight:
***Last night the RBA proved consensus wrong and moved to hold rates steady at 4.25% rather than cutting the OVERNIGHT RATE 25 basis points. Readers of NOTES FROM UNDERGROUND are well aware that I think very highly of RBA GOVERNOR STEVENS for the bank’s comments on the global economy are pithy and prescient. The RBA‘s release was loaded with opinion about the EUROPEAN efforts to stem the sovereign debt crisis and noted that the LTRO alleviated the “acute financial pressures” on banks. The RBA did note that “should demand conditions weaken materially, the inflation outlook would provide scope for easier monetary policy.”